271421

Exactly, no quibbles about risk aversion. However, at the State level we don’t print money. What we have experienced at the States are many 6-8 year and longer projects that spend millions without a startup. Since we cannot afford to hire or keep the most innovative, then agreed that we must integrate. Yet the budget limits remain. At what point, if state and local govt cannot pay more, do we cancel the projects? My original point is that governments may have to share, open-source, or otherwise make do with the software/systems/project results that are available versus recreating their own at more cost. Is that not a fair use of the term the “common good’? I am averse to using the term “rescue” on some IT projects, but many of our projects need cost and scope containment. So what would happen if we allowed the state’s and localities to use an operating federal system if the capacity existed? How can we save costs for all levels of government by adopting to other operating systems instead of creating a new state specific one? Thank you for sharing your ideas.